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Event Bookings and Queries

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0191 227 4424

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0191 227 4718

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Established in 1977 as a teaching gallery and the University’s link between town and gown, the University Gallery’s policy is to present exhibitions by artists of national and international distinction, as well as less established but promising artists.

By the early 1990s the Gallery’s international profile was firmly established with a series of major touring exhibitions of Edvard Munch’s work including the curatorship of the Frieze of Life exhibition at the National Gallery, London. The Gallery continues to initiate high profile exhibitions with touring links in America, Japan, Greece, Italy and Germany while maintaining an annual programme of exhibitions by artists of regional and national distinction. The Gallery specialises in contemporary painting, sculpture, printmaking and photography exhibitions, as well as historic and thematic loan exhibitions from national collections. Acquisitions to The Permanent Collection, comprising over 350 works, reflect the exhibition programme’s strong regional, national and international links. Exhibitions are supported by scholarly publications, interpretative literature and an education programme for adults and children, including public lectures, art classes and study days. The Gallery also provides training and work experience for students, as well annual placements for graduate and post-graduate students from Northumbria and Newcastle Universities.

In 2003/4, with grant support from the Baring Foundation, Northern Rock and the Monument Trust, the Gallery underwent a major redevelopment programme to improve access, double the exhibition space and provide a highly visible public entrance facing the City. Nico Widerberg’s sculpture ‘Pillar Man’ commissioned by ACE and the City as part of the ‘Hidden Rivers’ programme, marks the entrance to the University Gallery and is one of three other major sculptures, commissioned by the university as part of its ‘Percent for Art’ policy.

In 2008 the University Gallery’s sister organisation Kings Place Gallery opened in London, providing a touring link for exhibitions and events initiated by the University Gallery. This unique and enterprising development places the University of Northumbria at the heart of the city’s regeneration area which includes the relocation of Central St Martins in 2012 on the site opposite, between St Pancras and Kings Cross Station.